River City Writer

Just a brief round-up of some things that have happened, or will be happening soon, in the Edmonton literary scene.

• Raving Poets & CBC announce winner of the Raving Poets/CBC Face-off Contest: Wednesday night was the final night of the competition for a spot in CBC’s Edmonton Poetry Face-off. The winner does not win the Edmonton Poetry Face-off, but is guaranteed a spot in the competition. All of the competitors gave truly incredible performances, and I’m sure the judges had a tough time coming to a decision. Ultimately, Laurie MacFayden won the spot in the Face-off, so congratulations to Laurie.

• Mark Kozub launches The Uptown Browns: Edmonton literary icon and Raving Poets bassist, Mark Kozub, launched his new novel—The Uptown Browns—on Thursday night at Greenwoods’ Bookshoppe. Based on Mark’s reading at the launch, and the few short chapters I’ve read so far, it’s a damn fine novel. Having been privy to a good amount of Mark’s poetry, this doesn’t surprise me in the least.

• Anton Capri launches 2 physics books: Physicist and poet Anton (Tony) Z Capri will be launching 2 new books on Monday, December 10, 2007. Tony tells me that the books contain various anecdotes about famous physicists, as well as explanations—in layman’s terms—of what these men and women accomplished in their careers. As someone who is fascinated by all things scientific, but who often has trouble understanding higher level concepts, the notion behind these 2 books really appeals to me. The books—Quips, Quotes and Quanta: An Anecdotal History of Physics, and From Quanta to Quarks: More Anecdotal History of Physics—will be launched at the Stanley A Milner Library (7 Sir Winston Churchill Square) in the Centennial Room (downstairs) at 6:00pm on December 10.

• Raving Poets & Writers Guild of Alberta join forces for holiday poetry jam: The Raving Poets and the Writers Guild of Alberta are teaming up to throw a bit of a holiday party for the Edmonton literary community on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. The party will take place at Kasbar Lounge (10444 Whyte Avenue, downstairs), with readings from members of both the Writers Guild, and the Raving Poets (as much as one can be a “member” of the amorphous group that is the Raving Poets). The Writers Guild will be generously providing food from Yianni’s Taverna (upstairs from Kasbar) and, as usual, our good friend Travis will be pouring drinks.